With the New Year 2015 (G) it should be in order to make an account of ourselves. All over the world scientists are evaluated according to the degree that they ‘change’ the world for better. How nicely it has been remarked, in this regard “Either Science or Silence”! This is of course possible only by solid scientific contributions. To recall an anecdote for the benefit of all and derive lesson, once a Master asks his selected student: Can you fire a missile to reach the very end of the world? ‘No’, said the loyal student. The Master confirmed and added, “but if you write a good article/book its destination is limitless, both in space (distance) and time (history).” No doubt, teaching students properly to improve their scientific know-how is closely associated with this. As said in a proverb “Teaching is Learning”, according to which we improve ourselves while teaching our students. The key word in Basic Sciences is “Creativity”, which is much superior to the “routine”. Those that deal with routine must know that there is no much gain in it, for no one wrote history of science out of routine. Improvement of any sort lies in challenge, competition with the world and originality in the real sense. As the Physics and Chemistry Department we are proud to say that we abide by these globally accepted rules. The statement “either brain drain or brain in a grain” aimed originally to characterize the status of the Third World Countries. In response, we must prove that our brains are much more than grains. This is by contributing to real science and not to rely only on imported ideas which involve none of our feats.

As the Physics and Chemistry Department we are one of the most productive departments at EMU. Our Organic Chemistry group, for instance, is the only group (for the time being) to have a fully supported project from the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK).

We must admit of course that these are not enough. Let us aim higher aspirations at universal scales. NASA discusses nowadays – four decades after conquering the Moon – landing mankind on Mars on one hand. On the other hand, deep into the structure of matter the historic research at CERN is well-known even to layman. Why not to strive to take part in both of these extreme projects? Beside other things, in our department we contribute to the fundamental ideas of Newton and Einstein. Let us not forget that without reference to Newton and Einstein we should not be familiar today with radar, TVs, aircrafts, Moon – landing, GPS, nuclear power etc.

In conclusion, dear friends, we must be happy and proud that we are in the field of natural sciences. The joy of discovering or contributing to new ideas has no counterpart in any other enterprise.

The Department offers a two-year program of graduate study leading to the Master of Science (MS) and a four year program culminating in the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry. The programs are available in Organic and Polymer Chemistry. These programs have been established to enable students with research motivation to develop their interests through advanced study.